Omnia Vincit Amor
by Shalan the Magnificent
Summary: Peace followed the defeat of Kadaj… a peace that most hoped would never end… with AVALANCHE disbanded and scattered and the Turks busy with the rebuilding of Shinra none could imagine the threat that was growing in the shadows.
1. Vincent's Bane

**Title: **Omnia Vincit Amor

**Summary: **Peace followed the defeat of Kadaj… a peace that most hoped would never end… with AVALANCHE disbanded and scattered and the Turks busy with the rebuilding of Shinra none could imagine the threat that was growing in the shadows.

**Disclaimer: **I think we've established that I do not own Final Fantasy because then this would be a video game rather than a fanfiction…

**Note: **Okay… there are definite pairings in this story let that be known. I will probably get that settled in this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think because it's been a while since I was able to read some reviews…

**Chapter: **Vincent's Bane

* * *

Let it be known that there was nothing in the entire world that he hated more than someone disturbing his sleep… nothing more except maybe being shot at… let it also be known that on this particular day there didn't seem to be a single person who HADN'T attempted to interrupt his sleeping pattern. Why in the world had he ever gotten a cell phone? WHY?

Cloud Strife. Probably the most normal person he had ever met in his entire life… why would he be calling at 9:14. As he recalled he had recently moved into a new apartment above Tifa's bar… that brought up another problem.

Tifa Lockheart. The most dependable woman he had ever not fallen in love with. He clicked through the list. She had called at 9:47… maybe they were throwing a party. He didn't often pay attention to her but from time to time she was useful in fights.

Reno… He stared at the little silver object in his palm as he continued scrolling through the list. Why in the world was he calling? And where had he gotten his phone number. 10:09. He sighed impatiently. Ignoring these people was just too hard.

Reeve Tuesti. He would probably have to get back to him. After all, it was unlike Reeve to call him for no reason, though it was probably just something to do with the WRO. 10:32. The man seemed to call at the strangest of times though.

Barret Wallace. Of all people… what could possibly be going on that even Barret had to call him. Had he been hiding under a rock with his hands over his ears and a blindfold on? 11:28. People HAD to stop calling at some point.

Cid Highwind. Cloud was going to get it… why had he given out his phone number to EVERY person on the face of the Planet? May Mako burn you to a crisp Cloud was his only thought. 12: 14. At least SHE hadn't called him yet… which was good because he had warned Cloud not to give out his number to her.

His feet padded silently along on the grass carpet beneath him as he trudged towards the abandoned building. Something had been bothering him since his battle with Omega… something that had been nagging at the back of his mind like a violent beast… something like Chaos.

The silence filled his ears as he stepped into the dead silent laboratory. A gently wind picked up and whisked his hair around his head. "Is it here?" He heard a voice from behind him and he turned towards it.

"I don't know…" he muttered in reply. The speaker glanced around the room then looked back at the taller figure.

"If it is?" Her voice was soft, musical. He turned back to survey the room with a heavy sigh then walked forward, only to hear the smash of glass beneath his left foot. "You stepped on something…" she pointed out and he shrugged his shoulders lightly, that one little noise had sent his blood racing… he was on edge from being within the very building where it had all began.

"Glass…" came his reply through the darkness. She nodded and followed him silently, only the soft whisper of her long ponytail reached his ears.

"Why are we here?" She glanced around the room again and slid her fingers along a grimy overturned table.

"Don't touch anything…" he snapped in reply.

"This is the most talkative you've been since I met you…" she observed quietly from behind him. Nothing else was exchanged for some time as they walked towards a heavy steel door. "It's closed." His sarcastic comment was close behind.

"I can see that…" his red eyes scanned the steel and he pulled a vine away from the keypad. His fingers flew over the pad just before the heavy door began to move. How had he gotten to the point that he was walking around with a teenage girl in the middle of the night?

Oh that's right… he just HAD to feel like a Samaritan at that EXACT moment didn't he? He just HAD to feel like helping someone RIGHT then… of all of the ridiculous things… he walked through the door silently and she followed, making less noise than he.

"Vincent…" she spoke again from behind him as she scanned the room again.

"What now?" He asked as they walked through the research room.

"We're being watched…" she lifted her eyebrows and cast her gaze to the top left corner of the room.

"As if I don't know that…" his voice was cold, colder than he had meant it to be. Damn that Chaos… if only he would have fully recovered from that.

"Do we leave it?" She stared up at whatever it was in the corner then pulled out the twin guns from her hips.

"Put the guns away…" he sighed and she obeyed as he walked over to the corner curiously, the Cerberus drawn. His leather clad hand reached out to touch whatever it was in the corner as his cohort moved closer to him. Suddenly a head dropped to their feet and the screams echoed in the lab so badly he thought his ears would bleed. She buried her face into his chest, screaming bloody murder until he knocked her upside the head with his knuckles. She jerked away and he sighed again. "Well so much for secrecy…" _At least she's not as bad as __Yuffie__… __Yuffie__ would have been talking my ear off ever since we walked in._

"Sorry…" she grinned halfheartedly and he shook his head as his cell phone vibrated again. "You ever going to answer that thing?"

"They woke me up earlier… now I can't sleep… you think I'm going to answer it?" He glanced over to her. She was still shaking from the scare of the dead body. "It's been drained… like a… vampire or something…" he poked the dry, prune-like carcass with the Cerberus. He heard her expel air and he nearly smirked.

"I saw that!" She exclaimed. Damn her perceptiveness.

"Saw what?" He turned to her and she stared him down as he lowered the Cerberus.

"You're enjoying this! Scaring the living crap out of me…" She stared him down.

"Firstly, your feces are not living unless you drop parasites like a cow and secondly I don't enjoy anything…" Leave it to Vincent Valentine the human stack of bricks to dry up an entertaining conversation

"Firstly I… Don't walk away when I'm talking to you…" she jolted after him as he glided off.

* * *

"Damn, why doesn't he answer his phone?" Cloud stared at the phone in anger then tossed it over his shoulder.

"Why can't you get over the fact that he doesn't like to answer it when you call him in the middle of the night?" Tifa replied as she caught the phone before it hit the floor with her foot and flipped it up, catching it in her hand and placing it on the table.

"I'm sorry if there's something more important going on here than just his beauty sleep…" Cloud grumbled and Tifa sighed, rolling her eyes.

"The important thing is that you relax… if you go around calling every person you know on the face of the Planet this late at night they're going to hate you…" He looked at her over his shoulder. He had to admit, seeing her wearing nothing but his sweater was kind of… entertaining.

"Yes but…" He lifted his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes but nothing… now shut up." His jaw dropped angrily and he turned himself around in the chair to sit properly, placing an ankle on his knee. His folded his arms across his bare chest and stared her down as she eyed him.

"How dare you tell me to shut up…" his icy blue eyes nearly made her blink but she refused.

"How dare you take my clothes and not give them back…" she gritted her teeth.

"You just had to shower… It was tempting…" he chuckled. Earlier in the evening he had played a rather dirty trick on her and taken her clothes and tossed them into her room, effectively locking and sealing the door so she couldn't get in… a trick that she had yet to figure out.

"Give them back Strife…" she pulled the sweater vest around herself a little tighter and he let a snarky smirk cross his face.

"Nah…" he shook his head. He leaned back in the chair a little and immediately knew it was the wrong choice, with him off balance and her in just the right position to kick… "DAMN!" He went soaring across the empty bar, crashing into a table before tumbling to a stop near the opposite wall. "Why do you always have to do that to me…?"

"Why do you insist upon stealing my clothes?"

"Because you look cute in my sweater…" he fired back teasingly. "What?" He looked over as the cell phone began to ring.

"Cloud Strife's phone, Tifa Lockheart speaking…" she answered in all seriousness. "Yeah Yuffie what's up?" She looked concerned. "You mean he's not in his usual hide outs? That's odd…"

"Yep, totally so I checked it out, it was just on a hunch but I found something you might be interested in… I found a Wutai symbol stamped into the door…" Yuffie bounced on the bed lightly.

"What does it mean Yuffie?" Tifa looked over as the tall blonde strode towards her, his muscular upper body shining in the dim bar light.

"Here I'll upload it to your cell phone…" Within a few minutes a ding notified Tifa of her message. "It means silence … meaning that whenever the one assigned to it sees it they must kill anyone who is beyond the door… or take them as hostages… I don't know what they wanted with him but it seems that they either took him hostage or he moved on before they got here but somebody definitely ransacked this room." Yuffie glanced around at the mess before her. "Ransackery must run in their family cause they're good at it…"

"Thanks Yuffie… we'll be on the look out for Vincent…"

"Oh yeah… and there might be someone with him…" Yuffie pointed out as she looked at the other bed.

"Someone… with him?"

"Yeah it seems that there was another person in the room with him as the time he either left or was run out of the room… that's all from here…" She clicked her phone shut and Tifa looked at the cell phone curiously.

"Another person? Travelling with Vincent of all people?" She looked over at Cloud who shrugged.

"Maybe… he has a girlfriend now…" Cloud joked.

* * *

Ice, snow and sleet… that was the only thing beneath his feet at his ankles and above. The blizzard whipped around him as he walked through the empty town, He bent his head against the cold, pulling his cloak around himself tightly. _I hate the cold._ Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto his bright red cape and tugged. He stopped and jerked it free… it was then he noticed the nearly blue hand sticking out from the snow. He knelt down and pushed it aside to see a young girl lying beneath it, wrapped only in a thin blanket.

"How long have you been here?" He asked her and she shuddered violently. He knew she was close to death… and part of him knew he should leave her… but the other part said he should do what he could for her… so amidst the complaints of his darker side he lifted her up in his arms, wrapped her in his cloak against his body and fought his way through the icy wind towards one of the buildings.

Several hours later she had regained some color from his gentle attempts at warming her. His years of travelling had taught him some things, especially how to deal with frost bite. He warmed her icy limbs with lukewarm water beside a roaring fire in the fireplace of a house they had "borrowed".

"Here…" he handed her a bowl of hot broth… he had of course taken the liberty of searching the house… it seemed that none had lived in the town for years… something that confused him greatly. "Do you have a name?"

"Nadalia…" she muttered breathlessly and he squinted.

"Nadalia… my name is Vincent Valentine… can you tell me what you're doing here?" He leaned his elbows on his knees.

"I live here…" she told him. "That is… before the plague came…" his eyes dimmed. "It killed everyone…" she closed her eyes tightly.

"And why were you spared?" He asked as she lifted her cerulean eyes to meet his crimson.

"Vincent…" she said. He blinked. "VINCENT!" He was jolted from his reverie and he turned to look at her. She tilted her head to the side curiously and he frowned, a more human person would have blushed uncomfortably but he simply returned to normal.

"I apologize…" he continued walking.

"You were doing that thing again… the one that I warned you about…" she told him and he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Yeah, what's that?" He looked ahead again.

"When you space out like a zombie… what were you thinking about this time old man?" Unlike normal people her commonplace teasing about his age actually made him less than unhappy. Her steady defiance of every rule he gave her seemed to be the bane of his existence… though her constant teasing made him feel something close to human… something he had waited quite a long time to feel.

"The first time we met…"

"You mean when you found me right?" She looked off to the side as they walked, a thoughtful look on her face. He nodded his head. "I would have died…" she said matter-of-factly.

"Yes… you would have had I not found you in time." He nodded his head.

"Are we there yet?" She groaned and he sighed, for once he was talking and the only thing she can do is complain.

"I will tell you when we arrive at our destination…"

"Why do you do that?" He looked over his shoulder again.

"Do what?"

"Why can't you just say I'll tell you when we get there… why do you have to be all 'I will tell you when we arrive at our destination'?"

"I don't understand…"

"You could have just used contractions and a much shorter sentence to say the exact same thing…"

"Is my language too much for your tiny incompatible brain?" He teased. She nearly stopped in her tracks.

"Did you just make a joke?"

"You'll find I do that often if you would silence yourself."

"See there you go again… you could have just told me to shut up…" She shook her head. "Hopeless case…"

"If it weren't for me you wouldn't be close to a hopeless case… you'd be a lost cause…" He shot back.

"Ouch that smarts… yeah well if it weren't for me you'd still be as emotionless as a brick wall… though you're not quite past the brick stage yet… next step is pile of bricks rather than a solid wall…" it was at this that he let out something close to a laugh, a chuckle of sorts, more of a scoff than anything. A burst of air expelled from his mouth which was turned up at the corners. "Did you just laugh at my funny?"

"Nope…" she could hear the smile in his voice.

"You know you want to laugh…" She walked up beside him as they walked deeper into the ground. "You have no idea where we're going do you?"

"Yes… I do…" he assured her and she groaned.

"Why don't I trust you?"

"Because you're terrified of dead bodies…" he replied with some assurance. "And you think I'm leading you into a nest of zombies…"

"Something like that…" she looked off to the side and he chuckled. "HAH! There it was!" She pointed at him and he looked shocked as her finger neared his face. "You_ laughed_!"

"I did no such thing…" he looked away, holding down the grin that threatened his stoicism.

"You did too…" it was at this point that she did what he had been trying to avoid… she looked down. "OH MY GOD!" She gripped his sleeve tightly as she saw what they were walking on. "Are those?"

"I can't believe you didn't notice…" he looked over as she dug her fingers into his sleeve.

"Bodies… human bodies… Vincent… what happened down here?" He glanced around at the enormous gashes in the walls and the severity of the broken bones of the bodies.

"Something terrible…" he had a feeling he knew what. As they reached the bottom, after much protest from the woman attached to his sleeve, he walked towards the destroyed metal door. "Nadalia…" he whispered gruffly. "Get behind me…" he attempted to shift her behind him as he listened for breathing.

"Why?"

"NADALIA!" He shoved her behind him as another man darted out from behind the wall and Vincent drew the Cerberus. He fired as two others opened fire. Nadalia covered her ears, crouching behind the ex-Turk.

* * *

"You mean to tell me that Vincent's gone back to that place?" Cloud nearly shouted into the phone.

"Calm down Cloud… I don't know why but some people say that a man matching his basic description entered the woods two days ago… he was accompanied by a young boy… or at least that's what the witness says…" Yuffie drove down through the streets of a long forgotten city.

"So he's gone back to the lab… but why?" Cloud turned to Tifa who shrugged. "This is a problem… especially with what's been happening around here lately… Tifa get in contact with Reno and Rude, tell them everything… Yuffie… which forest is this?"

"The old one by Midgar… I'm heading there now."

"I'll meet you there…" Cloud shut the phone and slipped it into his pocket. "It's been two days… you've had your clothes back for two days…" he stared at her and she frowned. "Tifa Lockheart…"

"You're doing that thing again… the running away and hurting people thing…" she looked him in the eye.

"This time I'm going to help Vincent…" he cocked a smile before pulling his goggles on and stepping onto Fenrir. The sword cases on either side opened, they were full. They closed as he kicked the stand.

"You better come back…" Yuffie told him and he nodded with a grin.

"No worries… I've just gotta find Vincent… if anyone calls…" he lifted an eyebrow then drove off. As the dust cleared Tifa lifted her hands to her chest.

"Please protect him…" she whispered then lifted her head.

* * *

How was that? I'll try and update later this weekend again if I get some reviews… so drop me a review if you're interested okay? Thanks… I really want this story to go somewhere and it can't if you guys don't review. 


	2. The Remnants of Deepground

**Chapter: **The Remnants of Deepground

**Note: **Let it be known that I really like the phrase let it be known… okay… never mind that, anyways… Please give me a couple of reviews rather than just skimming the chapter and passing on… I'm a good writer… honest…

* * *

"NADALIA!" He shoved her behind him as another man darted out from behind the wall and Vincent drew the Cerberus. He fired as two others opened fire. Nadalia covered her ears, crouching behind the ex-Turk. He glanced momentarily over his shoulder as she crouched there, waiting for the gun fire to stop.

"VINCENT!" He swung around as she lifted her twin guns and fired, killing a shooter from up above them, though his aim, even when dead, rang true… Vincent grunted as a bullet tore through the muscle in his right arm. "Oh god…" she jogged over to him. He dropped down and fingered the torn fabric gingerly as she knelt next to him. "Here…" she pulled out the first aid kit from her belt and set it on the ground.

"Not now…" he stood again and lifted his arm to shoot but his pupils contracted in pain as a rain of bullets poured down on them. He gasped as she slammed into him, throwing him into the main lab.

"What's the code!" She shouted as the mixed chorus of bullets thundered on the other side of the door.

"Let me…" he shoved her aside and hurriedly typed in the number and watched the door slide shut, his breathing uneven.

"You were hurt again…" he nearly jumped as she rested a hand beneath his cloak against his soaked abdomen.

"Now's not the time to play doctor…" he made to lift his right arm again then grunted and instinctively held it against his body.

"Vincent…" she protested, he clapped a hand over her mouth and she looked around the room.

"DG soldiers are crawling all over this place… the more you talk the more of them will be on us…" He muttered in her ear. She blushed as his heated breath whispered across her skin, it was nice to know he was worried about her.

"Right…" he looked at her as she crouched down again. Her long, silvery blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail which, at the moment, was pulled over her left shoulder. Her long legs were scrunched beneath her body, her steel toed boots rose just above her ankle, mostly the only covering that her legs had besides the knee length black shorts she wore. Her powerfully carved calves flexed in anticipation as she reached her hands back. The black wristlet gloves she wore left the tip of her index fingers and her thumb bare, in order to better grip the Desert Eagles she carried with her. There was just something about her that he couldn't put his finger on…

He almost opened his mouth to tell her that she needed to pull her shirt down then thought better of it. While she was crouched the three inches of skin between her shirt and shorts made his fingers itch. He half wanted to run the icy cold barrels of the Cerberus against that exposed skin, but he thought better of that as well… she would squeal.

"How long are we gonna hafta sit here?" She whispered and he placed his right hand on her back, effectively moving her to the side so he could pass through.

"As long as we have to…" he replied it was at that moment that the main door burst open and the remaining three DG soldiers entered the room. The other three turned around as the two of them rose and fired.

* * *

"CLOUD!" Yuffie jumped up and down as he skidded to a stop just outside the Midgar forest. "It's been too long!" She hugged him as he stepped off Fenrir.

"AH!" He stumbled as she slammed into him. "Nice to see you too Yuffie…" he pulled her off and slipped his goggles around his neck as he pulled his swords out of his bike, slipping them into the carrier on his back.

"How have you been?" She asked as they walked. It had been quite some time since the battle with Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz… nearly three years… something that marveled the young ninja to no end. The world had returned to the calm that it had formerly known… Cloud shrugged.

"I've been alright… you?" He stepped into the bushes, his pant leg tugging on the thorn bush that he passed by.

"Amazing… as usual…" Yuffie grinned and Cloud nodded his head. "I've been worried about everyone… after all, we're all over the place…" Yuffie paused to look behind them. "Hey Cloud… did you invite anyone else to join us?" She blinked.

"Huh? No…" he turned around then his eyes widened. "Deepground!" He shoved her to the ground and they hit the thorn bush hard. "Keep low, let's move towards the…ow… damn…" he pulled a strand of thorns from his face and neck.

"I thought Deepground disbanded after the release of Chaos and Omega…" Yuffie whispered as they squatted their way through the woods.

"Yeah… that's what I thought…" he straightened up and hid behind a tree as Yuffie leapt into one of the higher branches. She pulled out her gigantic shuriken and rested one spike against the bark of the tree.

"So if it's not Deepground then who is it?" Yuffie whispered as the trucks stopped and soldiers piled out.

"Hell if I know…" He shot back in reply. She chewed on the inside of her lip nervously, this was weird… if Deepground had disbanded then what were Deepground soldiers doing in Midgar.

"And what are they doing here?" Yuffie looked around here. "There's not much excitement around here…" she heard a crash from behind her. A brilliant scarlet form flew towards her at a such a rate she screamed and stumbled backwards out of the tree, down into Cloud who looked up and was immediately pinned to the ground as Yuffie landed on him.

"What the…" the red and black figure jumped and landed on one of the trucks. The blue and white DG soldiers turned to shoot but fell to the ground as the Vincent-like figure whipped out two guns and shot them so fast even Cloud had to blink… then blink again as he saw something emerge from within the brilliant red cloak, the figure of a young woman with wide sloping hips and round pert breasts coupled with a long silvery blonde ponytail.

"Vincent?" Yuffie posited and Cloud stared, open mouthed as the two figures moved in perfect tandem, taking out the rest of the soldiers with no problem as they whirled around each other.

"Can't be… Vincent's right handed…" Cloud pointed out and the ninja looked over at him curiously.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Look, the one in the red cloak is shooting with his left hand…"

"Vinnie could have been injured…" Yuffie suggested and Cloud lifted his eyebrows. "Right, Vincent Valentine we're talking about…" she chuckled.

"Yuffie look…" Cloud nudged her and she peered around the tree as the cloaked figure picked up the female and jumped off, tucking her under its cloak. "Follow it?" He lifted an eyebrow and she nodded as they ran off.

* * *

"Reno here… yeah… roger that…" He clipped the radio to his waistband and motioned with his hands as another load of steel was air lifted to the top floor of the tower. As the chopper let the steel rest on the platform Rude and Tseung ran forward to unhook the chain.

"ALRIGHT! TAKE 'ER AWAY!" Rude motioned and Reno nodded to the pilot who tipped an invisible hat and flew away.

"Alright boss, we've just gotten the last shipment in…" Reno reported.

"Good… tell Reeve that I need to see him then call Cloud… I have a question for him…" The reply came over the radio and Reno scratched his head.

"You _need_ to get a secretary… or get _me_ one…" He muttered as he pulled out a pen and wrote down that he needed to call Cloud on his wrist before pulling out his cell phone. "Hey, Reeve… Yeah, Shinra… okay…" he hung up.

"Reeve got the message?" Rude lifted an eyebrow and Reno nodded.

"At least he's cooperating with us…" Tseung observed. Reno sighed and cocked his hip to the side, keeping his legs straight.

"Damn… my back hurts…" The redhead rubbed his neck with contempt.

"You don't even know…" Tseung looked over at Rude who snorted into his sleeve.

"What does that mean?" Reno looked from one to the other. "Guys? Rude… Tseung?"

"Are you three fighting again?" Elena walked up the stairs and the three smiled. One of the only female Turks still working she commanded respect from the other three, Elena seemed to know them well enough not to leave them alone for long.

"No… we were just explaining to Reno that he's a pain in the neck…" Tseung cracked a smile and Reno stared at him open mouthed.

"Guh…" he forced air out his mouth. "Ruh…" He looked back at Rude who was staring straight ahead with what looked like a smile ready to form. "AH!" He threw his hands up and walked down the stairs, muttering curses under his breath.

"Any word on Shalua Rui's whereabouts?" Rude questioned and Elena shook her head.

"None yet… the former members of AVALANCHE are attempting to track down Mr. Valentine now…" Elena frowned.

"Well… let's cross our fingers and hope…" Tseung lifted a pair of crossed fingers sarcastically. "What makes them think that Vincent is with her?"

"Because she seemed to have a special connected with him they're just hoping that she is… I didn't say that she was…" Elena shrugged. "Besides… there have been rumors circulating that Valentine has been spotted travelling with a female companion…" She offered up the information. Rude looked over at Tseung who sighed heavily.

"So I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they find him…" Elena looked off into the distance as Rude spoke.

* * *

"Hold still…" She smacked him upside the head. He relaxed his body, breathing shallowly as she reached in once more with the tweezers. "Almost… got it!" He looked over as she pulled the bloody bullet out of his side. His chest heaved as he breathed in, air rushing into his lungs. "It looks like it hit your rib then went into harmless tissue to the side." She informed him.

"I don't care what it did Nadalia… sew it up…" he commanded and she frowned, drawing away from him.

"I don't know why you're such a grumpy pants…" she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she pushed the needle through his skin. He held his breath and closed his eyes as the warm needle moved through the ripped skin. He bit back something like a primal growl as she pulled the skin tight as she could then knotted the other end.

"Jesus fucking H. Christ…" he sat up as she began to dab at his arm. "Leave it…" he commanded then nearly writhed in pain as she dug her finger into the flesh. "Fuck…"

"Exactly… there's a wound there… let me bandage it…" she told him and he sighed. She wouldn't shut up until she got her way. She quickly sewed up his arm then patted his shoulder. "Take a shower but don't touch the wounds and don't lift your right arm…" she commanded him and he stared at her, the intimidating red eyes glaring from beneath a blanket of black hair would have shaken her normally but she stared him down. "Do it… you smell like blood…" her voice was steady and he rolled his eyes, looking out the window.

By the time he emerged from the shower in his black pants she had done something that surprised him. A chair was set up in the hotel room with the bloodied sheets underneath it. He looked around for her curiously before walking over to it.

"Sit." He sat as commanded, it was a reflex he assumed. She walked to his side and knelt down, gently wrapping his upper body in soft white gauze. He closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling of her soft fingers smoothing the gauze against his skin. It had been a while since a woman had been this close to him. By the time she had finished he was so lost in thought she simply moved on to his arm, sliding her hand down his biceps, her fingers guiding the gauze around the solid muscle. He let out a heavy sigh as her hands were removed, not even realizing that he had been holding his breath.

"Nadalia?" He looked around then in the mirror as she approached again. She walked up behind him and what she had in her hand made him scowl. "I'm smarter than you are… you know how those guys keep finding you… you walk around looking like you do…" she told him then picked up a strand of long black-blue hair.

"You aren't…" he watched in what seemed like horror as the scissors approached the strand of hair.

"It's not going to hurt… It has to be done…" she then thought better of her plan. "Wait right here…" she walked off then returned with a hair tie. She pulled his long black hair into a simple braid and tied it at the bottom. He closed his eyes, anticipating the pain of her cutting him then was shocked when he heard a slice and suddenly the weight on his head was lifted, he heard a thud and opened his eyes to a sigh that nearly made him gag. His entire head of hair was on the ground behind him. "That wasn't so bad…" She looked at it then pushed it under the chair with her foot. She tied a kerchief around his neck then covered this with another sheet. He looked in the mirror as she busily snipped away at his hair.

With constant interjections from him, by the time they had finished, _jointly_ cutting his hair she had broken two pairs of scissors and attempted to stab him with them three times. She laughed when he lifted his left hand and stroked his newly shortened hair, staring at himself in the mirror. "I look like I'm 27 again…" he turned to look at her and she shrugged with a grin.

"Sorry… You were the one who insisted that I leave part of your bangs…" she turned his head to the side gently and noticed a thin white scar. "What's this?" She slid her middle finger along it and he gripped her wrist, making her gulp in fear.

"Nothing… leave it alone…" he deadpanned. She nodded her head before making one last adjustment on his hair.

"Vincent…" she spoke his name after a moment of silence…

"Hnn?"

"Nothing… just wanted to see if you were mad at me…" She smiled softly as she knelt in front of him, evening his bangs.

"Don't say my name if you don't have any reason to…" he snapped and she drew away, his eyes opened wider for a second then narrowed back to normal as he realized that he had just pushed her away again. "That's not what I meant… you can say my name whenever you want…" he looked off to the side and she tilted her head with a smile.

"You are a weird one…" she said as he stalked across the room to where his cell phone was. He picked it up to look at the missed calls, a talent he had only recently acquired… thanks to Nadalia. While he was busy with the little silver noisemaker she pulled her long hair down from its ponytail and stood in front of the mirror.

He rested on the window seat, bending one knee up and hanging the other out the window as he lifted the phone with his left arm to listen to his voice messages… another recent talent. He stared out into the cool fall air as he rubbed his freshly cut hair with his right hand. Another message from Cloud… a greeting from Reno… He sighed then listened to the third message.

"Hello? Vincent? What in the hell are you doing? You haven't answered your phone in months, no one's heard from you in years… SHALUA RUI IS MISSING! HELLO? ARE YOU EVEN ALIVE?" He pulled the phone away from his ear as he heard Reeve's angry voice.

"Reeve?" He looked at the phone then looked over and nearly fell out the window at the sight before him. Beautiful strands of white blonde hair were mixed with black on the ground beneath his counterpart's feet. Her hair now hung just below her shoulder blades. She turned to look at him as he stared at her.

"You like it? Or should I take more?" She blinked at him. Vincent was left speechless as she fingered another piece of hair and snipped the end off of it.

"What have you done?" He asked, for the first, and probably the last, time in his entire life a look of utter shock was painted across his face. She was startled at this display of emotion but didn't say anything as his cell phone began to ring again.

"I cut my hair… I stand out less this way…" she smiled and she walked towards him, his hand extended to touch her feather soft hair. There was nothing wrong with the way she had cut it… he slid his fingers through her silky locks as she stared in wonderment. It was not like him to show emotion like this. His eyes were filled with a feeling she didn't recognize… was it… nostalgia? She looked down as his cell phone began to ring yet again and he suddenly drew his hand back from her hair and she nearly fell over.

_Well that was too close for comfort…_ Vincent thought dryly as his cohort shuffled back to the mirror. _At least she took it well… rather than jumping away from me…_

* * *

"So this is the place we lost them… that means they're in here somewhere." Cloud stepped off the bike and pulled off his helmet. Tifa stepped off the bike and set her own helmet on the bike as Yuffie walked over to them. She had been there for some time, however she hadn't seen hide nor hair of their mysterious prey.

"Do you really think it's Vincent?" Tifa looked over at Cloud who shrugged. Behind Tifa Yuffie was jumping up and down attempting to reach something just above her fingers. Cloud watched in amusement as she attempted to jump on a barrel to grab whatever it was.

"AAH!" There was an enormous splash and Yuffie went crashing into the water barrel she had just jumped into. Cloud snorted and Tifa turned around.

"Yuffie! Stop messing around do you want to wake up the whole entire town?" Tifa scolded and Yuffie groaned from the water bucket. "And if so then is it him that the DG soldiers are after?" Tifa looked after Cloud as he walked over and helped Yuffie out of the barrel.

"I haven't got a clue… I think we'll just have to find Vincent and ask him ourselves." Cloud shook his head.

"Owie…" Yuffie rubbed the top of her head as she pulled her knees up around her ears. Cloud turned back to look at Tifa who was looking around the town. "When we find Vinnie I'm gonna hurt him so bad!" She kicked another barrel with echoed loudly and she fell over, clutching her foot. "OO-foot?" She looked up above at the leg that was hanging out the window.

"I'll try calling him again…" Cloud pulled out his cell phone as Yuffie began her climb up the water spout. Tifa watched over Cloud's shoulder, humming the Itsy Bitsy Spider… with a crooked smile on her face.

"HEY! GUYS! I FOUND SOME MATER-WHOA!" She nearly dropped the shiny clear orb as suddenly gun fire rang through the street. The materia slipped on her finger tips and she reached for it, gripping the water line with her thighs. "Whew…" she sighed then shouted again. "HEY! WHOA! WHOA! NO! BAD BAD!" Cloud pulled out one of the swords from his bike and threw it at the man just above her who fell back and slid down the roof to land on the ground. In the meantime Yuffie was still clinging for dear life to the loose water spout. Suddenly a hand gripped hers and she was tugged off. A powerful arm dragged her through the window.

"Who is she?" Vincent looked down at Yuffie as she huffed on the floor, the materia clutched in her hands. Nadalia tapped Vincent's bare shoulder blade and he looked at her.

"Her name's Yuffie Kisaragi… don't worry… she's harmless…" Vincent's monotone was pointed at the materia hunter. Yuffie looked up at him and then smiled.

* * *

Tseung walked down the dark street, his hands in his pockets beside Reno on their patrol. "Man it sure is cold tonight huh?" Reno looked around them and Tseung nodded.

"I know… as if they could turn up the heat a little…" The black haired man nodded his head in agreement.

"Who d'ya think took Shalua?" Reno looked over and Tseung looked back.

"You really want to know?" He tilted his head away from the redhead.

"Yeah… don't you?"

"We could look for her…" Tseung chuckled as Reno considered this.

"We could… but what if there's dragons involved?" Tseung shook his head as they continued their walk. A near silent slithering sound came from a drain they stepped over as a shapeless blob slid after them.

"You hear that?" Tseung lifted his head a little higher, peering around in the darkness. Reno shone the flashlight around them curiously.

"Yeah… what is it?" The redhead cocked his ear towards the direction of the sound.

"Like… like a… snake…" Tseung looked around them, gun drawn.

"Like… a really… really BIG snake…" Reno looked around as the slithering came closer. "SHIT!" A massive black serpent rose from behind them and he pulled out the gun from his belt and fire. "TSEUNG!" The snake went straight for the black haired man who fired off a round of bullets before the snake pinned him to the ground.

"RENO! GET OUT OF HERE!" Tseung's voice seemed faint as Reno fired into the mist surrounding them. "RENO!" The redhead hesitated, not knowing what to do then closed his eyes and turned, running in the direction they had come from… or at least the direction that he hoped they had come from…

* * *

So… yeah… review and tell me what you think… and I'll update by tomorrow… 


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